Rural decline big issue on the doorsteps

The neglect and decline of rural Ireland was the one issue that kept coming up at the doorsteps over the past nine weeks – and indeed the past three-and-a-half years for Portumna councillor, Ivan Canning.

Back in 2016, he was co-opted onto Galway County Council when Fianna Fáil party colleague, Anne Rabbitte, was elected to the Dáil, so this election was his first time ‘facing the people’.

“I tried to make contact on a personal basis with every household in the electoral area. To put in mildly there wasn’t much free time over the past nine weeks – I never missed a day at work with the canvassing done on the evenings and weekends,” he told the Connacht Tribune.

He said that in many parts of rural Ireland there was a real sense of ‘disconnect’ between Dublin and the rest of the country which needed to be addressed on many levels.

“The same things just kept coming up . . . rural broadband, the closure of the post offices and the very real issue of unsustainable rate bills that businesses out the country are facing.

“The system of paying rates on a square footage basis rather than on turnover just has to change. Small businesses out the country are going to the wall.

“I would go as far as saying that rural business in areas that are several miles from a local town should be de-rated completely. We have to try and incentivise the system to bring back life to rural Ireland,” said Ivan Canning.